


RUNAWAY

by ReadingStuffNow



Series: DCU [3]
Category: The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Barry Allen is The Flash, Gen, No Sex, Platonic Relationships, Wally West is Kid Flash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:46:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22965634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadingStuffNow/pseuds/ReadingStuffNow
Summary: In which Dawn West just wanted to get away.ORWhere Iris West finds her niece just as chaos hits Central City.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Iris West
Series: DCU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1635286





	RUNAWAY

It's hard sometimes. To breathe, to slow down— to calm down. It's hard to keep from feeling guilty, sometimes. I was too selfish and too young to see my mistakes, even though they cost me _everything_. I used to let herself trust people, people like my dad or mom. When I was young, he would promise to always be there for her and _she_ would say she loved me.

The truth is, neither of my parents are capable of love. They cared about _appearances_ and about how selfless or rich they can look, with the least amount of effort. I hated when my mom's friends came over, because they'd just go on and on about what a _good_ person she was, of how I should treat her better and take care of her. None of them realized that _I_ was the kid, not her. _I_ was the one with a deadbeat dead! It was _my_ child support she blew through!

Nobody understood my side of it. Teachers at school would stop me in the halls and ask me how my _brother_ was doing. If he was . . . _better_ or whatever. But, you can't really recover from the shit inside Danny's head. Not really, not fully. Instead of saying that, I smiled and said yes, commented on whatever fishing or hunting trip he was planning next. His friends were all older and our cousins liked taking him out on the weekends. The invitation was rarely extended towards me.

My brother's problems became mine. I was the one making sure he ate, checking in on him, offering to give him whatever cash I had on me and always, always asking if he would be okay if I went out. I was a _good_ sister. I did everything right. For the first year after he dropped out of school, I checked on him every hour, at least, as soon as I got home. If Danny asked, I would skip class to get him fast food. If Danny asked, I would carry the trash from his room to the garbage cans. _If Danny asked_ , I would give him my food, despite how hungry I was.

But, it was never enough. Nothing I ever did was enough. I'd mess it up soon enough; let my emotions get the better of me, snap at Danny. Even if he started it, I was supposed to be _better_. My big brother was broken and nobody cared that I was too.

__

My mom like to call me a bomb ready to go off.

It was a fitting description. I broke and destroyed— I was bad and everyone said so. Danny, my big brother, was a blessing. She called him her angel, her gift— her _blessing_. He was a fragile piece of glass that needed to be protected and guarded. And I could never take care of him like that. I was too violent, too angry. It wasn't good for me to be around him. So, mom sent me off to some boarding school in Colorado, where I was far from them and far from trouble.

I was fourteen when I ran away the first time, carrying nothing more than a backpack and some stolen matches. My move wasn't thought through or planned— just a spur of the moment decision brought on by nothing in particular. They dragged me back two days later, kicking and screaming.

The next time I ran, it took them a week. I didn't have any money for bus fare, so I couldn't leave. But, it was worth it. For a couple days away from that _school_ , I was fine sleeping on the ground and stealing pocket change for food. I was quick and nobody would question some school girl.

The fifth time I ran away, I had a plan.

It was just after my sixteenth birthday and I had somehow convinced my dad to send me some cash, along with my annoyingly cheap grandma and some cousin I barely knew. After it all, I had near fifty dollars; it wasn't a lot, but it was enough for a train ticket.

I waited a week after I got all of my . . . _funds_. At the end of the month, a delivery of groceries came in the morning in a big truck. Most of the kitchen staff would be spending the morning prepping meals and packing away food, entirely too busy to notice me. I ducked through the kitchen and into the yard, hidden among the overgrown thicket.

Within an hour, I had made my way into town. I knew the path well enough to find my way there and towards the train station. My hand was wrapped tightly in a bandage after I split my knuckles the night before, my bangs hiding a well placed cut above my brow. Marsha Collins and me had gotten into a faked fight, ending with me in the infirmary pretending to have concussion symptoms and her suffering in the Dean's office.

It was finally my chance to get out and away. To be fucking _free._


End file.
